EBAY IS GIVING AWAY MY MERCHANDISE AND REFUNDING BECAUSE OF SLOW MAIL!

[tina287barbieplanet]

I sell vintage Barbies and her clothes, but eBay is giving my things away and making me refund money because of things not being delivered. 

Finland has held up mail, my customer didn't get her item. She makes a case it's been almost two weeks- eBay forces the refund and she'll get to keep my item. 

I have another customer open a case because it's been a week....I'm being threatened by ebay about refunding and "take care of your customer"! The vintage outfit is over 100.00, she'll get to keep her money AND my item!

WHAT THE HELL?

[liawrig.nq8rdwqa3]

Terry: Stupid is as stupid does. If you do it to me once, I'm not going there a 2nd time.

[mam98031]

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@ladyindecadence wrote:

Ebays policy for item not received cases are that if ebay has to step in and force a refund that the seller has 30 days to file an appeal to the refund. Ebay also states that if the item tracking shows delivered within 30 days of a forced refund that they will find the appeal in favor of the seller and reverse the refund and remove any defects against the seller account.

This does put the seller in a bad position, as do you take the gamble that the package will actually arrive and tracking show delivered within 30 days after a forced refund, or do you just refund the buyer voluntarily and take the loss to not get a defect on your account.

This isn't a very reasonable policy with international shipping as the USPS will not even let you file a claim for a package that is not delivered for 40 days from the date of shipment. Even domestic priority mail you have to wait 15 days before they will consider a package missing.

Ebay's times for allowing a buyer to open an item not received claim should be in line with the missing item time frames of the carrier used to ship the item.

And like everyone else here I've had more packages go missing in the last two months then in the previous 20 years of selling on ebay. Statistics like this should open ebays eyes that case times need to be extended during this pandemic.

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@ladyindecadence 

Please provide a link to the policy that says that.  I can't seem to locate it.

[bar-29368]

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@gwens*4saleitems* wrote:
I'm not the one having the problem …. the OP of this thread is.
I found the info I was trying to explain and posted a link to it. Now to see if OP is reading the thread.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/COVID-19-Community-Hub/Temporary-changes-to-timelines-for-Returns-and-...

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Unfortunately that announcement only addresses the new timelines for returns where ebay has seen fit to give buyers additional time to get returns in the mail.

They've announced nothing that I've seen where they're protecting the seller from shipping issues (even though they'll mouth phrases like "we have your back") except for not giving us late shipping dings or defects (big fat woohoo there ebay).

How about protecting our items and money for a change?

[gwens*4saleitems*]

https://community.ebay.com/t5/COVID-19-Community-Hub/Advising-you-about-shipments-during-COVID-19/ba...

scroll down to this topic: What you need to know about shipping packages outside of the US.
There are service disruptions around the world as local shipping carriers decide to suspend in-country deliveries. Below we are listing the countries that are impacted. 

[taxman21]

First of all SHAME ON EBAY. Horrible business practice and the customer support is , well ...one of the worst I have ever experienced. The same thing happened to me. As a seller, what choice do you have? The buyer gets impatient, files a claim for refund and the seller has 3 days to respond OR get a negative rating. So I did what you did, refunded the amount and guess what - 3 days later the package arrived. I emailed the buyer, sent a request for money on payapl (which was denied). As I said in the first sentence, EBAY CS was useless, not worth the lengthy time I had to wait. So here we stand I''m out the merchandise and the shipping I paid.

Has anyone escalated these requests up the chain at EBAY?

[7606dennis · Accepted solution]

Alas!  With the current state of international shipping owing to the effects of the pandemic, I would advise against International Shipping at this time.

[shamrock_trades]

I'm very sorry to hear about this... it's completely ridiculous, and should NOT have happened. It's unreasonable and unfair!

I would explain to your buyers and try your best to reason with them. Some may understand, and some may refuse. Some may not even respond.

For now, I would only ship in the country you live in. No international. This should reduce the amount of losses.

Maybe also extend the shipping time so that you are more likely to be covered. Or take a break from selling (although, it may be needed to keep selling during times like this...)

Ultimately, it's not your fault that the item didn't arrive on time... it doesn't surprise me that Ebay didn't side with you as the seller STILL, even though this pandemic has broken loose.

It's buyer for the win every time, and I'm sure that will never change on Ebay.

Sorry for your losses... I hope that this does not happen again.

[hknumismatics]

I could not agree more with you @ladyindecadence 

I am based internationally in a small country. So shipping international is the only option. Many countries postal systems are delayed, suspended or going by sea instead of air; this is a pretty obvious fact and eBay should be well aware of it.

I list "Standard International shipping" for all my sales, which eBay generally estimates delivery in 2-4 weeks on.
Under normal cirumstances this works totally fine. Right now several countries such as India and Russia have completely shut down their postal systems so nothing is going in or out right now (India has just re-opened EMS service). Many countries are only served by sea post as opposed to air mail, or have airmail operating with month long delays.

eBay could very easily extend the "estimated delivery time" by say 4 weeks, to something like 4-8 weeks. That would then allow time for most things to arrive within the time frame (sea mail takes about 2 months usually from Asia or Australia to US).

After these four weeks the buyers can open INR claims, and indeed they have to do so within 30 days of the random expected delivery date that eBay puts up. (So in reality they have to do it by approx. 2 months after the sale, but can do it after 1 month) If an INR is opened it 1) Hurts the seller's rating, and 2) Leads to a refund without possibility to reclaim your money if you cannot obtain proof of delivery within 30 days more.

So far I only have one of these cases against me. The problem is that for registered sea mail there is no online tracking incoming to US, so I have to trace it via the sending postal authority, which takes 2-3 weeks, so even if delivered within its standard two months it is impossible to provide eBay with delivery proof within the appeal period.

Luckily I mostly have understanding buyers and recurring ones, that do not open INRs (and I would of course refund them in case items indeed do not turn up after 3 months or so). For sure I ship more expensive items by Fedex or other courier services, as that still delivers within a reasonable timeframe. However it is just not feasible on items that are say in <200 USD  range when the shipping fee would be 40 USD or so.

[ryan795]

I stopped shipping overseas in April. I had two outstanding packages one mailed April 7 and one April 11.  Filled out claim with USPS May 1. Heard from USPS May 30 that they are still looking. They have not arrived yet. No scanning updates since the middle of May. Both buyers put in claims this week. I refunded money. Both buyers said they would contact me and pay if the items arrive. I will continue monitoring tracking. The person who said the packages arrived after the refund and the buyer would not pay really bothers me. EBAY SHOULD STEP IN. In this case the OP is exactly right when they say Ebay is giving away our merchandise. We should at least know who the buyers are that think they should get something for nothing.

[tina287barbieplanet]

Ahahahaaaaaa, i needed to laugh, thank you! If the lawdogs have nothing to go on, i guess I'm a step ahead of them!

[tina287barbieplanet]

"Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin".....INDEED! 

[tina287barbieplanet]

Great idea having them sign for it. Thank you!

[tina287barbieplanet]

I seem to learn everything the hard way. Ive only been selling since October 2019, trying to read everything I can to help myself. I get more knowledge from y'all, here on the forum. Certainly better than EBays "help".

[tina287barbieplanet]

I had no idea, I've not been selling that long. I was making more on international sales than here in the states. I had no problems until this happened. But, no more right now, if ever.

[tina287barbieplanet]

Are you calling me stupid?